Lenses
Page 4

Two scientists at the University of Rochester have taken invisibility cloaking back to basics. Their novel arrangement of four standard, off-the-shelf lenses keeps an object hidden (and the background undisturbed) as the viewer moves up to several degrees away from the optimal viewing angle.

The US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a smartphone attachment, that turns the phone into a 1,000x microscope. What's more, it's made from less than one dollar's worth of material.

Mirrorless camera owners in search of fast glass and razor-thin DOF have a new king of wide-aperture lenses to drool over. The Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 is touted as the fastest volume production lens in the world, and it'll give you an image similar to an f/1.2 lens on a full frame camera.

Fujifilm has launched its first dust-proof and weather-resistant XF lens for the X-series lineup of interchangeable-lens cameras. In addition to being weatherproof, the XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR also features what's described as the world's most advanced image stabilization system.

A new installation has been unveiled in the window of the foyer at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in Manhattan. The Discovery Wall is a display made up of 2,800 mini LCD screens each placed behind a curved lens, and its content varies depending on the distance from which it's being viewed.

Night-vision security cameras could be getting a lot less costly, thanks to the discovery that their lenses can be made from silicon. Ordinarily, thermal infrared camera lenses are made from materials such as germanium and chalcogenide, which are much more expensive.

Researchers from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Mexico have developed a pair of glasses that use a combination of ultrasound, GPS, stereoscopic vision and artificial intelligence to help the visually impaired to get around.

While it is possible to squeeze optical zoom lenses into phones, Tel Aviv University spinoff company Corephotonics has developed a sleeker alternative, that utilizes the combined output of two compact lenses.

Microscope lenses are typically made either by grinding and polishing glass discs, or pouring polymers into molds. Now, however, a scientist from Australian National University has devised a new lens-making process, in which drops of silicone are simply baked in an oven.

Fujifilm has launched a new tele-conversion lens for its X100 and X100s cameras. The new TCL-X100 optic turns the fixed 23-mm lens of the cameras into a 35-mm, which is a 35-mm-format equivalent of 50-mm.